


Five Times Liv Called Robert "Dad"

by miss_whimsy



Series: Five Times: Roblivion Family Fics [1]
Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Angst, Family, Fluff, Gen, Growing Up, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-21
Updated: 2016-11-21
Packaged: 2018-09-01 09:45:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8619577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miss_whimsy/pseuds/miss_whimsy
Summary: Five years in the life of Liv Flaherty. Five times she chose her own family.





	

**Fifteen**

The first time it happened, she didn't even notice.

 

"What cinema?"

"Vue," Liv sighed. "It finishes at half past nine."

"I'll come and pick you up."

"We can get the train," Liv tried and pulled a face when Robert laughed down the phone at her.

"No, I'll pick you up at half past nine."

"You are such a pain," Liv complained. "I don't know what Aaron sees in you."

"I hear that a lot," Robert said. "I reckon it's something to do with the kissing."

"Urgh," Liv exclaimed, disgusted. "You're so gross. Both of you. Old people shouldn't kiss as much as you do."

"Aaron's twenty-five. That's hardly over the hill."

"Just you then" Liv shot back and bit her lip to stop herself smiling when Robert laughed again.

"Have you had food?"

"McDonalds."

Liv could picture Robert's nose scrunching up, but he didn't comment. "Do you have enough money?"

"You gave me fifty quid," Liv reminded him. "I'm fine. Go snog my brother or something."

"Half-past nine," he repeated right before she hung up on him.

Idiot.

She rejoined Gabby, Jack and Tom, shoving her phone in her bag and pulling out her purse.

"Who was that?" Jack asked.

"Just my dad," Liv said. "Do you want popcorn or ice-cream?"

They walked over to the counter and bought their tickets, arguing over what food they were going to get. Gabby handed over her money but didn't say anything. She was watching Liv with an odd look on her face.

"What?"

"Nothing."

They got two large cartons of popcorn and four small drinks. As soon as they'd paid Gabby shoved her drink into Tom's hands and grabbed Liv's arm.

"I need the loo."

She dragged Liv across the lobby and into the toilets.

"God, Gabby," Liv said, wrenching her arm free. "You can just ask you know. You don't need to bruise me."

"I need to talk to you."

"You already told me you were going to snog him. That's why you let me pick the film."

"Not about that," Gabby said. "Who was on the phone with you before?"

"Robert. He's going to come and pick us up after the film."

"You said it was your dad," Gabby said.

Liv frowned. "I didn't."

"Yeah, you did. When Jack asked, you said it was your dad on the phone."

"No, I didn't," Liv insisted, annoyed. "It was Robert. Robert's not my dad. He's not my anything."

"Liv."

"Shut up, Gabby," Liv snapped and hurried back out to the waiting boys.

 

"How was the film, girls?" Robert asked three hours later when Liv and Gabby climbed into the car. "Did you have a good time?"

"It was fine," Gabby mumbled. "Thanks for picking us up."

Robert drove through the streets, glancing at Liv occasionally, concerned.

"Liv? You alright? Did you have a good day?"

Liv shrugged one shoulder, her entire body turned away from him. She rested her head on the window and closed her eyes. "I don't feel well."

"That'll be the McDonalds," Robert said, hoping to elicit a smile. When she didn't respond at all he met Gabby's worried eyes in the rear-view mirror and saw her shake her head. "Okay. Well, we'll be home soon."

He drove faster.

 

**Sixteen**

The second time it happened, she made him pay for it.

 

Sixteen was an important birthday, so Chas had said, and Liv deserved something nice.

Like a party.

Robert had met Aaron's eyes, pleading with him silently to say no. Or at least, not in their house.

"You can have it in the pub," Chas had said, raising an eyebrow at her son-in-law. "I know that face, Robert."

 

Which was how they ended up on Liv's birthday, hovering in the doorway to the bar, watching Liv and what seemed like the entirety of her school, dancing and screaming and having fun.

"I only had two friends in school," Vic said, working her way between them and settling herself under Robert's arm. She poked Aaron's side. "And one of them was you."

"Please don't continue that story," Robert muttered.

"I don't think she knows half of these people," Aaron said, happily changing the subject. "She does look like she's having fun, though."

 

Liv was dancing with Gabby and Heather, though it was more laughing and bumping into each other than actual dancing. She was breathless and giddy and when the song ended she pulled her friends into a hug.

"Don't get used to this," she said. "But I'm really glad you're my friends."

Gabby gave her a squeeze and then pushed her away. "I'm going to find the real Liv now."

Heather laughed and then gasped when she caught sight of Liv's necklace.

"Oh my God, Liv," she exclaimed. "That's gorgeous. Where did you get that?"

Liv's hand flew up to the simple silver heart that Robert had given her that morning. "My dad gave it to me."

Heather continued to gush about how lucky Liv was, but Liv had frozen as soon as the words had left her mouth.

She waited until Heather turned away to grab a cake, and then bolted for the door.

 

The next morning dawned bright and early and Liv hurried through getting dressed and eating her breakfast without complaint.

“Olivia!”

Aaron looked up from his cereal and meet Liv’s eyes. “What have you done?”

“Nothing.”

“Then what's he bellowing about?”

“No idea,” she muttered, ducking her head. “I'm going to miss the bus.”

“What the fucking hell is this?” Robert yelled, hurtling down the stairs. In his hands were his entire collection of ties, all of which had been cut in half.

“Liv,” Aaron snapped, frustrated. “Why?”

“Because I hate him,” Liv snarled. She grabbed her school bag and looked at Robert with utter contempt. “I hate you.”

Robert and Aaron watched her run from the house with matching looks of hurt and confusion on their faces.

“She didn't mean it,” Aaron told him, but Robert had already turned away, closed himself off.

“I'm going to late for work,” he muttered and disappeared back upstairs, ignoring the way Aaron called out for him to wait.

 

**Seventeen**

The third time it happened, she told herself she didn’t have a choice.

 

Liv was drunk but not as drunk as Gabby, who’d spent the last five minutes throwing up in the doorway of Superdrug. God, she hoped that wasn’t illegal or something, because there’s no way the security camera hadn’t caught the entire performance and if the police showed up to arrest her for damaging public property then Aaron was going to kill her. 

Of course, Aaron was going to kill her anyway because it was after midnight already and they were still in the centre of Leeds and no taxi driver was going to let them in a cab when Gabby was spewing her guts out every five minutes. She was cold and tired and drunk and she only had enough in her to keep Gabby upright.

“I love you, Liv,” Gabby said, resting her head against her shoulder. “You’re my best friend. I’m so glad you moved in with Aaron. I’d have been so lonely without you.”

It turned out there was nothing more sobering than hearing your best friend prattle on like an idiot when there were more important things to be worrying about. Like how they were going to get home. 

“My phone’s dead,” Liv told her, though she was aware that Gabby wasn’t paying attention. “Where’s yours?” She looked through Gabby’s bag and wanted to cry when she couldn’t find her phone. “Shit.”

“Liv, I don’t feel well.”

“I know,” Liv sighed. “We need a phone, though.”

She watched people walking down the street, trying to spot someone she thought might actually help them and not attack them or rob them or laugh at them. 

“Let’s keep walking.”

A group of older women left a bar further up the road, wrapping themselves in coats and laughing together as they said their goodbyes. They didn’t look drunk or cruel. Liv thought it was worth a shot.

“Excuse me,” she said, “would I be able to borrow someone’s phone to make a phone call? I can pay you, it’s just my phone’s dead and I really need to call my dad and ask him to pick us up.”

The woman closest to her pulled out her phone and helpfully dialled the number that Liv rattled off.

Robert’s number, not Aaron’s.

“Because Aaron is going to kill me,” she muttered as the phone rang.

“Hello?” Robert’s voice immediately calmed her down, even though she’d never heard him sound so worried in her life.

“It’s me,” she said. “I need you to come and get us.”

“Where are you?”

“Leeds,” she said. “Outside the City Market.”

“Get in a taxi right now,” he ordered and Liv could hear Aaron asking questions in the background. “I’ll pay when it gets here.”

“I can’t,” she told him. “Gabby keeps throwing up. They won’t let us in. Please, Robert.”

She could hear the jingling of keys and the slamming of doors, and she wanted to cry because she knew they’d come for her and she hated letting them down.

“You are grounded for the rest of your life,” Robert said. “That’s if your brother doesn’t ship you off to a convent in the morning.”

Liv sniffed her tears back and smiled. “Understood.”

“We’ll be as quick as we can be,” he promised. “Whose phone are you using?”

“A nice lady lent it me,” she said. “Robert…”

“Ask if she’ll stay with you until we get there,” he interrupted. 

“I’m sorry.”

“I know,” he said. “Just stay put. We won’t be long. Aaron’s driving like a maniac.”

“Don’t crash,” she pleaded, even as she heard Aaron arguing that he was doing no such thing. 

“Liv,” Gabby moaned. “Can we go home now?”

“I have to go,” she said into the phone. 

“We’ll be there soon,” Robert said again. “Stay safe.”

“You too.”

 

**Eighteen**

The fourth time it happened, she was crying.

 

“I hate you!”

“Oh grow up,” Joe yelled back. “You’re not that special you know. You think you’re too good for me? I could have anyone I wanted and they’d all be better than you.”

“Give me your phone,” she demanded, holding out her hand. 

“Why?”

“Because you have photos and I don’t trust you not to spread them around like the sick little pervert you are.”

Joe laughed. “That’s rich coming from you. Your old man was the biggest pervert of them all. And where’s he, eh? Topped himself because he used to get his kicks…”

“If you say one more word I will make sure you don’t end the week with both kneecaps intact,” Liv growled. “You’re repulsive.”

“Oh, what are you going to do? Go running to your brother? What’s he going to do? Nothing, because otherwise, they’ll bang him up. Just like your whole family should be.”

Liv could feel the tears streaming down her face. How could she ever of thought that Joe was the one for her? How could she have been so wrong about him? She stepped up closer to him and wrestled the phone from his hand.

“No, I won’t tell Aaron,” she said, and that was the truth. She couldn’t imagine anything worse than putting all of this on her brother. “I’ll tell my dad. My real dad. And he will destroy you.”

“You really think Robert gives two shits about you?” Joe laughed. “After everything you’ve done to him? Does he know you call him your dad? No, he can’t or else he’d have left you and your idiot brother years ago.”

Liv deleted the photos from the phone and then dropped it on the floor and stamped on it.

“If you ever say one word to or about me again, they're both going to come for you. And you won’t enjoy what happens after that.”

She grabbed her bag and ran from the room and down the hall before he could properly react.

 

She let herself into the house as quietly as she could and tip-toed up the stairs to her room.

“Liv?”

She froze with her hand on the door-handle and glanced over her shoulder to Robert who was standing in the doorway to his and Aaron’s room. His hair was all over the place and he yawned, rubbing his eyes. 

“I thought you were out all night.”

“Change of plan,” she said and looked away as she felt the tears threaten to return.

“What’s wrong?” he asked immediately.

“Nothing.”

“You’re about as good at lying as Aaron is,” Robert told her. “Brew?”

She nodded and pushed open her bedroom door enough to drop her bag inside, then followed him down the stairs and into the kitchen.

 

“Spill,” he said five minutes later when they were both sat at the kitchen table with a cup of tea.

“Joe and I broke up,” she said quietly. She sipped her tea. The steam felt nice against her face.

“Thank God,” Robert breathed. “I hate that little toerag.”

Liv looked up at him in surprise. “What?”

“We both do,” Robert said. “You’re way too good for him.”

“Yeah I’ve come to that conclusion myself, thanks.”

“Did he hurt you?” Robert asked, watching her carefully. “Did he touch you? I mean, did he make you do something you didn’t want? Because I’ll kill him.”

Liv smiled, even though she knew she was crying again, and shook her head. “No, he didn’t force me to do anything. I haven’t had sex with him. I was going to, but it didn’t feel right. And then he said all of this stuff.”

“What stuff?”

“I’m not telling you.”

“Why not?”

“Because you’ll break his legs,” Liv said and smiled wider when he looked eager at the prospect.

“If you want me to, I will.”

“I know,” Liv said and reached out to grab his hand. “I know you would. Rob…”

“Can I break his legs anyway?”

Liv choked on her tea and started to laugh. “No.”

“What about his arms?”

 

Aaron found them still sat there twenty minutes later; Liv crying with laughter as Robert described the many and varied ways the Dingle and Sugden clan could ruin Joe’s life. 

 

**Nineteen**

The fifth time it happened, she meant it.

 

Liv dumped the last box on her new bed, in her new room, at her new university and smiled. 

“Shall we get some dinner?” Aaron asked. “Or are you wanting us to leave you to it?”

“Dinner sounds good,” she told them, ushering them out into the hall. She closed and locked the door behind her, then followed them out to the car. “May as well get as much out of you while I can. And anyway, I know you booked a hotel for tonight.”

“Eh?”

Robert hung his head and sighed. “It was supposed to be a surprise.”

“Oops,” Liv said, sounding wholly unapologetic.

Aaron looked at Robert and they had some silent conversation that consisted of lots of smirking and eyebrow wiggling. Liv always knew to sleep with her earplugs in when she caught them doing it.

They drove into the centre of York and Robert complained about the traffic and Aaron complained about the people, and both of them complained about bloody students until Liv threatened to ignore them until Christmas if that’s how they were going to be.

“Don’t be like that,” Aaron said when they were finally settled around a table in The Punch Bowl.

“I’ll get the drinks shall I?” Liv asked, sticking her tongue out at Aaron, and her hand out to Robert.

He handed over twenty quid and shook his head at her. “I don’t know. You’d think you only liked me for my money.”

She grinned and patted his shoulder on the way to the bar. 

 

Waiting for the drinks she looked back over at her family, wondering, not for the first time, how she was going to survive three years without them. But as Aaron was fond of saying, that was the point. She had to live her own life now and she knew that they were proud of her and everything she’d achieved.

The little finger of Robert’s left hand was stroking the little finger of Aaron’s right hand, which was about as mushy as they got in public unless they’d been drinking or were among family and friends. But even that was always muted in comparison to what they were like at home. Liv was the only person who ever saw them as they truly were, and as much as she complained about it, it made her happy to know how much they loved each other, how devoted they were to each other, how much they still wanted each other after five years of marriage.

 

They enjoyed their meal, then wandered around the shops for a while, where Aaron and Robert seemed to be taking notes of streets and pubs. 

“So we know where you are if you get into trouble,” Aaron explained, making Liv roll her eyes. 

“You do my head in, the pair of you.”

“Do you want a lift back?” Robert asked.

Liv shook her head. “I live here now. I’m getting the bus like a normal person and you two are going to-” She stopped and wrinkled her nose. “Do whatever you two do that I pretend I don’t know about.”

Aaron laughed and pulled her into a hug. “Ring whenever you want okay? Even if you think it’s a stupid reason. It’s never a stupid reason.”

“I know,” she said, squeezing him tight. “Love you.”

“Love you.

“You got your key?” Robert asked. Liv held it up for him. “Bus fare?” 

“I’m nineteen, Robert.”

“I don’t believe that,” Robert said. “Do you need money?”

“You know I’m rich in my own right,” Liv reminded him. “Stop fussing. God.”

They stood awkwardly facing each other, then reached out together. Robert gave nice hugs. Liv had always thought so.

“I’m so proud of you,” Robert whispered into her hair and Liv wondered for a moment if she was even supposed to have heard it.

“Thanks, dad,” she whispered back.

And meant it.

**Author's Note:**

> So it turns out I have a lot of feelings about Liv and Robert's relationship and how different it is to her relationship with Aaron, and I wanted to explore some of that. There's actually a Robert/Aaron coda to each of these, so I might try and get that up in the next few days.


End file.
